How Are You Staying Cozy?

Recs #77. It's cold and the vibes are bad. Let's share ideas.

Hi! Honesty time. This “polar vortex” weather, paired with the inauguration, a bad cold this week that left me in a state of brain fogginess, and the general late-January vibes have left me in a deep funk and searching for bright spots.

One thing that’s helping: I’ve been doing a lot less scrolling on my phone this week as news of the TikTok ban — then the confusing reversal — gave me the ick. (I agree with this take: let TikTok die! It will never be the same again.) Zuck at the inauguration - and all the weird Meta updates - also gave me the ick. As for Elon, I’m alarmed and unsurprised - but I stopped using Twitter a long time ago.

It feels like a good and necessary time to reexamine my relationship with these social media platforms. Do I really want to funnel my attention into a Trump-ass-kissing-machine? Suddenly, the risks of being on social are starting to feel like they outweigh the potential personal and professional benefits.

According to my phone, I spent an average of 20 minutes on Instagram each day this week. Typically, this looks more like an hour plus. (Treating my phone like a landline really helped get that number down.) It felt great! I spent that freed time reading, sleeping more, and talking to friends. I’m liking this trend for me and hope it continues for my mental health…and to the detriment of the broligarchy.

currently

ANYWAY. Apologies for the downer. In the spirit of keeping our spirits UP during this time, I wanted to try something different today in lieu of the regular Friday recs newsletter:

What are the small things making you feel a bit better and cozier right now, in this dead of winter? Even if they’re silly?

Today’s post is for paid subscribers to Downtime. Read on for: cozy little bits, a comedic history podcast rec, simple recipes we’re making this week, and more. To gain full access to all the posts, our subscriber Geneva chat, and monthly giveaways, you can upgrade to a paid subscription (thank you!!). You’ll also unlock over 150+ posts packed with past recommendations, interviews, advice, and more…

I’ll go first with four things keeping me happy…